Welcome back to “The Stakes,” MTV’s “orange in your Christmas stocking” of podcasts. We’re tasty and sweet! Just peel us! That’s not weird, and I resent any implications to the contrary!

Coming up on the show today:

- MTV Podcast Director Michael Catano speaks to Rebecca Craven of the Pipeline Safety Trust, an independent organization that promotes pipeline safety, to find out how common pipeline failures actually are — and what’s at risk when something goes wrong.

- Producer James T. Green hangs out with Kimberly Drew, a.k.a. Museum Mammy, whose Tumblr helped millions of people learn about black contemporary artists.

- Correspondent Gaby Wilson talks with Texan fashion designer Subhi Taha about his eponymous line of androgynous clothing that he calls “modestwear.”

- Marcus Ellsworth, our poet in residence, takes on the humanitarian horrors unfolding in Syria and how to turn empathy into energy for what comes next.